Introducing: Reign of Error

You need to know about this great new podcast called Rain of Error, and the timing of this miniseries could not be more perfect. You know, when you look at the teams in the NBA playoffs, you'll see franchises with terrific owners, owners who've made investments in players, coaches, and staff. And then there's James Dolan, owner of the New York Knicks, who has wildly mismanaged his team for over two decades. He so despised that fans boo at the mere mention of his name in Madison Square Garden. Dolan is a man born to immense privilege, and in Rain of Error, you'll learn how he went from aspiring musician to the throne of one of the most beloved franchises in sports. But his time at the top can only be described as a dumpster fire. Rain of error details how Dolan has become a lightning rod for criticism as he tries to escape from the shadow of his billionaire father. Dolan battles with his own players, fans, celebrities, politicians, the media, even girl scouts, using everything from an army of lawyers to facial recognition technology to keep enemies out of his venues. You're about to hear a clip from Rain of Error. While you're listening, follow Rain of Error wherever you get your podcasts, and hey Prime members, you can listen to Rain of Error ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. There are plenty of good owners in professional sports, and plenty more bad ones. But most of them probably live in the gray area in between. They want to win as much as we do, but turns out running a team just isn't as easy as it seems to us sitting on the couch. In order to get a better view, we want to pan the cameras away from the players and up to those luxury boxes. And we're going to start back in Madison Square Garden with the very guy who failed to sign Jeremy Lin. The guy who looked at incredible gift tours in the mouth and said, nah, he's not worth it. I'm talking about James Dolan, the lightning rod in a fedora who owns the New York Knicks. An owner so colorful, we're going to need five episodes to unpack this train wreck of a story. In sanity, a side Dolan has made a career's worth of unpopular decisions and not just of the contractual variety. Most recently, he started using facial recognition technology to keep his enemies out of his venues like Madison Square Garden and Radio City Music Hall. Some of these enemies aren't very intimidating. Kelly Conlon's daughter is a Girl Scout. This is a photo of security guards approaching her inside the lobby. I was excited and my daughter was excited to go and see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular and see the Rockettes. The league has to step in and stop this. This is petty. It's mean. It's awful. You cannot allow this technology to fall in the hands of a vindictive person. For using dystopian technology to punish fans and for many, many, many other reasons, people in New York have strong opinions about James Dolan. This is the equivalent of being kidnapped, stored in a basement, being tortured, and then they let you out when you have no use to anybody. Fire yourselves from being a Knicks fan. Are you embarrassed by this, my friend? We're all embarrassed. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the worst owner in the NBA, Jim Dolan. And that is not hyperbole. In the 21st century, the New York Knicks have been the worst team in basketball. I mean, don't be fooled by this year's little playoff run. Even the lowly Charlotte Hornets have been better, which is funny. I mean, unless you're a Knicks fan. James Dolan's reign as Knicks boss has been nothing short of a disaster. And over the next five episodes, we will get into how he inherited this much beloved New York institution and turn them into a laughing stock. And the way Dolan will burn through 13 head coaches, also start his own rock band, go to war with the New York media, send a legendary player out of the garden in handcuffs, blacklist ordinary fans who dared to cross him. And oversee, did I mention, the single worst NBA team of the 21st century? And all of that will lead us to the most important question of all here, which is, are Knicks fans just stuck with James Dolan forever? Now, we're just a humble podcast on a mission, a secret plan to pull off the impossible. By the end of this series, we're going to find a way to get James Dolan to sell the Knicks. And wait, I don't think we can say that. Guy, that's not, no. Stick to the script, David. Okay, then. Okay, fine. Bids start at $6 billion. Hey, prime members, you can listen to Reign of Error and Free on Amazon Music. the Amazon Music app today.